When billionaire Jeff Yass and his wife Janine announced a new scholarship program for students affected by Philadelphia’s sweeping school closure plan, they moved quickly, writes Kristen A. Graham for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The “Opportunity Knocks” scholarship began accepting applications just two weeks after the Board of Education adopted its controversial facilities master plan. The Bala Cynwyd Yasses, prominent school-choice advocates, weren’t waiting around.
The scholarships offer 500 students $8,000 annually to attend private schools in Philadelphia. Participating institutions have pledged to cover any tuition costs beyond that amount.
“There will be zero costs incurred for the families, full stop,” said Caroline Allen, director of the Yass Prize.
It sounds generous. And in some ways, it is. But the details complicate the picture.
Those 500 slots represent just over 10% of the students set to be displaced by the closures. No schools will actually close until 2027. The scholarships, meanwhile, kick in for the upcoming 2026–27 school year. This means that families are being asked to make a major decision now, well before the closures take effect.
The eligible schools are almost entirely Catholic institutions, with Liguori Academy in Kensington being the only exception.
Yass Prize officials initially declined to release the full list of participating schools publicly. They only disclosed it after a news outlet published its story.
“I have spent years working alongside families and educators who refuse to give up on children,” Janine Yass said. “These children impacted by the school closures deserve stability, a school that believes in them, and an opportunity to succeed with a quality education.”
Supporters see it exactly that way: a lifeline for vulnerable kids caught in the middle of a bureaucratic upheaval they didn’t ask for. Critics see something else entirely.
Lisa Haver is the founder of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools. She called the move “dastardly,” arguing it exploits instability rather than addressing it.
Aly Shaw of the LittleSis Public Accountability Initiative went further. She called it “the disaster capitalism playbook exactly,” describing it as using a moment of crisis to advance a long-running push for school privatization.
The Yasses’ supporters counter that families shouldn’t have to wait for institutions to reform themselves. They say that real choice means having options now, not someday. “The most important thing is giving families and students more options,” Allen said. “They shouldn’t have to wait for their school to close or be reassigned to another school that might not work for their student.”
That tension, between rebuilding public systems from within and empowering families to leave them, is at the heart of one of education policy’s most enduring debates. Philadelphia, it seems, has just become its latest battleground.
For the full story on what this means for Philadelphia’s students, families, and the future of its public schools, read The Philadelphia Inquirer.
